The final item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S7M-00018, in the name of Colin Beattie, on recognising the damaging impact of antisocial behaviour. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament recognises what it sees as the damaging impact that antisocial behaviour has on communities, including in Midlothian North; understands that this behaviour impacts on residents’ safety and hurts local businesses; believes that there is a need to support young people and their families to ensure that such behaviour is stopped at the source; recognises the hard work of Police Scotland in dealing with the issue, and notes calls for the Scottish Government to review and continue to support programmes aimed at preventing youth antisocial behaviour.
17:34
First, I simply state that, in my constituency of Midlothian North, antisocial behaviour is out of control. Over the past three to four years, there has been a steady increase in incidents, much to the distress of my constituents. I do not minimise the efforts that the local council and the police have made to manage the situation. However, in my opinion, they simply do not have the tools to do so effectively, which is why I am raising the issue in a members’ business debate.
Let us look at the nature of the various forms of antisocial behaviour. I will focus on young people, but we should remember that adults of all ages can be part of the problem. Yes, there is clear evidence that youngsters from primary school and above are creating mayhem. Setting fire to plastic recycling bins is a great favourite, but fighting—mostly between themselves in public—is frequent and causes considerable anxiety among residents. Dalkeith town centre is almost a no-go zone at night; youths in dark clothing and balaclavas seem to feature at the centre of the problems.
Many people associate free bus travel with antisocial behaviour. However, that is not the only cause; it is merely a tool that some young people use. Abuse of the national entitlement card should not be acceptable, and nor should antisocial behaviour on public transport. The level of behaviour on buses is unacceptable, and neither passengers nor bus drivers should have to tolerate the level of misbehaviour and intimidation that a group of youngsters or adults can create. We are not going to persuade people to use the bus if it is not safe to use, nor is it reasonable to expect bus drivers to police their buses, given the likely response. A solution must be found. Uplifting bus passes from offenders would be a start, although I suspect that a more robust response will be needed. When dealing with underage youngsters, the police say that they have few options, and no real deterrent unless serious criminal activity is involved.
Shoplifting has become a lucrative hobby for some people of all ages. I was recently contacted by a supermarket that was seeking help because it was losing around £25,000 over a six-month period. Other retailers complain about the level of theft from their shops. Retailers also complain that nothing can be done—they call the police and no one responds, or the police visit but rarely catch the criminals involved. If those criminals are caught, that serious crime is treated as minor, and they are rarely sent to prison, even if they are frequent offenders. Shoplifters are straight back out on to the streets and offending again.
That is not a deterrent, and I know that the police find that very frustrating. When I speak with the police, they are clear that shoplifting most often falls into two broad categories: shoplifters are either part of organised criminal gangs or individual drug addicts who are stealing to feed their habit. Most frequently, theft from supermarkets involves alcohol or steaks, which are then sold in pubs and at other gathering points. The cost of shoplifting is directly felt in people’s pockets, as retailers recoup the costs. It is not a victimless crime.
Young people using motorcycles or e-bikes have become both an annoyance and a hazard. The noise is intrusive and disturbing and the damage that is done to public areas is considerable. They cause fear and upset, especially among older residents. Antisocial behaviour in schools is increasing, with attacks on teachers and other pupils becoming commonplace. Although that is too big an issue in itself to be expanded on in this debate, it is all part and parcel of the fundamental shift in our society that urgently needs addressed.
Many constituents have contacted me to express their concerns and worries about what will happen if antisocial behaviour is not checked. Indeed, a very young constituent recently tackled me on what was being done to make her and our communities safer. To her, I say that my bringing this debate to the Parliament is part of moving to a solution.
Those are the main issues, but what can be done to deal with them? First, the police have made it clear to me that legislation around e-bikes is not up to date, which leaves them in a difficult position when they are dealing with situations involving e-bikes. I ask the Scottish Government to consult the police to ensure that legislation is fit for purpose and will support the police in dealing with the issue.
Secondly, school curriculums must provide information not only on the rights that young people have but, just as important, on their obligations and responsibilities to society as a whole. Thirdly, the Parliament, across the chamber, quite rightly passed legislation to protect the rights of young people, but young people are using that legislation to evade responsibility for their actions. For example, during the recent Holyrood election, on polling day, there was a disturbance at one of our polling stations that was caused by a large group of primary school children fighting in the doorway of the polling station. One of them shouted at adults who tried to intervene, “We know our rights—you can’t touch us or we’ll call the police.”
Parliament needs to explore, with police and councils, measures that could reasonably be put in place to stop such violence and misbehaviour. Again, I emphasise that it is not only young people who are responsible for misbehaviour. We must protect the rights of our young people, but we also need to protect the rights of our citizens to live peaceably and without fear or disturbance. I make it clear that maintaining young people’s rights is very important as a protection; however, it is clear that appropriate deterrents to bad behaviour need to be in place.
I do not pretend to be an expert in the areas that I have touched on, such as education, but the Parliament has access to many who are experts and should be able to agree on balanced solutions. We all know what the outcome needs to be; we now need to agree on the path to achieve that outcome.
17:40
I thank Colin Beattie for bringing this important debate to the chamber. I am sorry that I am not in the chamber this evening, but I was at a funeral this afternoon. However, I wanted to speak in the debate because, in my South Scotland region, I have had frequent casework from constituents involving dangerous and antisocial behaviour.
One example that is regularly brought up is the damage that is caused by illegal e-bikes, motorbikes and quad bikes, which Colin Beattie mentioned. Residents of rural towns and villages in particular describe illegal e-bikes as being driven recklessly and at high speed, often on pavements. In other cases, motorbikes, quad bikes or other petrol off-road vehicles are regularly destroying community and private land. Whether it is play parks or farmland, they do not distinguish. Residents are understandably concerned about safety and wellbeing and are saying to me that they are genuinely fearful that someone might be seriously injured or killed because of that dangerous behaviour.
Like Colin Beattie, I commend the work of my local Police Scotland officers and their efforts to control and prevent antisocial behaviour, particularly when the service faces mounting resource pressures, with policing numbers being particularly challenging in those remote villages. More must be done to ensure that policing is adequately resourced and supported and is well equipped to deal with such behaviour.
I recognise that increased and visible community policing can impact deterrence. However, fundamentally, addressing antisocial behaviour goes beyond placing more feet on the ground. If we want to make our streets safer, protect communities and address the problem in the long run, we need to look at the deeper and wider societal issues—we need to look at tackling the root cause of antisocial behaviour. A Scottish Government review into Scotland’s approach to antisocial behaviour identified a number of systemic, deep-rooted and highly complex issues, including poor mental health; the misuse and influence of drugs and alcohol; poverty; stigma and stereotypes; and housing.
I have spoken in the chamber previously about the culture of binge drinking in Scotland. Scotland faces an alcohol crisis, with alcohol-related deaths and disease being one of the biggest challenges that our society faces. Not only is excessive drinking harmful to the individual; there is a clear link between harmful drinking and criminal behaviour, with a high number of the prison population reported to have been under the influence of alcohol at the time of their offence. At the same time, we know that the root cause of alcohol misuse is often linked to poverty and deprivation, which are also connected to antisocial behaviour.
Therefore, none of those issues—antisocial behaviour, alcohol misuse and poverty—can be viewed in isolation. An independent working group on antisocial behaviour came to a similar conclusion. The group, which was tasked with developing a long-term framework for addressing antisocial behaviour, focusing on prevention and early intervention resolutions, emphasised that antisocial behaviour cannot be viewed in isolation and that, rather, it stems from deep-rooted, cross-cutting societal issues, including poverty, housing—which I mentioned—food insecurity and a lack of access to the support services that people need. The group concluded that
“Reducing antisocial behaviour requires tackling these fundamental drivers”,
and that there must be investment in prevention and support. That could mean investment in local groups, community initiatives and activities for young people to engage in things such as sport.
It is equally important, however, to have strong leadership to drive the societal change that is required to reduce antisocial behaviour. I invite the minister to outline how the Government intends to progress that work on a cross-portfolio basis, which I have spoken about before, as we go into this new session of Parliament.
Tackling the root causes of antisocial behaviour is a real investment, and I value the opportunity to discuss it tonight. I again thank Colin Beattie for bringing the issue to the chamber.
17:44
I point to my entry in the register of interests, which shows that I am the chair of the Kincardine and Mearns Youth Clubs charity.
We all know that antisocial behaviour can impact local communities through severe psychological distress, increased strain on police and public resources, and the degradation of town centres and housing estates, as has been mentioned. The most profound effect is the long-term impact on the mental and physical health of the victims. Noise nuisance, harassment and intimidation cause sleep deprivation and severe anxiety and make residents change their daily routines to avoid known trouble spots. There is also the strain on police and public resources, with police leaders consistently warning that the high numbers of low-level complaints about issues such as public nuisance, vandalism and underage drinking can divert valuable resources away from tackling more serious crimes.
Widespread antisocial behaviour, including fire-raising, off-road biking, irresponsible riding of illegal e-scooters and littering in derelict and rural areas, can generate a widespread fear of crime, making residents feel unsafe in their own neighbourhoods and discouraging people from fully utilising their local amenities. We need strategies that prioritise early intervention and more foot patrols, rather than relying solely on criminal justice outcomes.
Mr Beattie concentrated on antisocial behaviour among young people but, from the police reports that I see in my local area, it seems that there is actually more antisocial behaviour coming from adults. Drunken and abusive behaviour in the street and on public transport, waste accumulation in gardens, which attracts vermin, and neighbourhood noise, arguments and fighting are all issues that are regularly reported to me by constituents.
I do not want to stand here and be accusatory of any particular group; I want to balance the debate that we are having this evening. Antisocial behaviour has negative impacts where it happens, but we need to encourage all members of our communities, whether they be young or old, to take pride in the place where they live and to have consideration for their neighbours. We need to give people purpose and encourage them to take an active role in their communities, because people who have pride in their place are far more likely to look after that place and their neighbours.
I believe that the perpetrators of such behaviour are often victims themselves. They might find themselves in a spiral of behaviour from which they just do not know how to extricate themselves. When people are reported as problem neighbours, what is going on in their lives that is making them act in the way that they do? Perhaps a friendly ear and a listening for support are what is needed rather than hostility and complaints. Behaviour, good or bad, comes from how a person is coping with their personal situation, and none of us knows for sure what has happened in a person’s life to trigger such behaviours.
Understanding and compassion can go a long way. As Carol Mochan mentioned, people need to be helped to get the support services that they need. That is a major issue when many public support services are being cut by local authorities because of budget constraints. Yes, we need more police presence for prevention, but we can also use civic education in schools to instil good values in our young people. We also need better support and social services for the prevention and intervention piece with adults.
If we tackle the root causes of antisocial behaviour, the impacts can be lessened. We need more universal youth clubs, such as the charity that I run. Young people need to have constructive and safe places to go where they can socialise and learn social responsibility without being judged. We need call-outs for adult community engagement and welcoming community groups so that people can contribute to their places. We need to ensure signposting to support services for all and we need to help those support services to provide appropriate intervention through adequate funding to keep doors open.
As parliamentarians and community leaders, we have a responsibility to lead the charge, in our work here in this place and at committee, in support of our local communities, as leaders, neighbours and friends.
17:49
I thank Colin Beattie for securing this members’ business debate. I fully share his belief in the need to support young people and their families. I recognise that, even after more than 20 years of the Antisocial Behaviour etc (Scotland) Act 2004, many people in our communities still feel that antisocial behaviour is a major problem, which makes it an important topic for discussion.
Given that we have had 20 years of the 2004 act being in force, we need to look again at how we understand, define and respond to antisocial behaviour and come up with some new ideas and approaches. I have a number of concerns about the way in which we often talk about antisocial behaviour. I worry about how we use the term to lump together a lot of different issues. We sometimes use it to refer to criminal behaviour, including sexual harassment and forms of violence against women and girls, but we often also use it to refer to behaviour that we just do not really like, such as young people hanging out in the streets or in parks when they have limited options for places to go.
I also worry about how accusations of antisocial behaviour can be used to demonise certain groups of people, particularly young people and communities of colour, whereas we turn a blind eye to middle-class families who use mosquito noise makers outside their homes. Even though those are actively harmful and painful to young people who are merely walking down the street, they are not necessarily considered to be antisocial.
As Colin Beattie’s motion notes, we need to think about preventing, not just responding to, the variety of behaviours that are causing harm in our society. We need to properly understand the underlying social and economic causes and consequences of harmful behaviour, how different communities are affected differently by harm and what it means for everyone in a community to feel safe and to thrive.
On the perception that antisocial behaviour is caused mostly by young people—which the motion focuses heavily on—the little data that we have tells a very different story. The most recent statistics show that two thirds of those convicted for offences relating to antisocial behaviour were over the age of 30.
The erroneous focus on young people has consequences. As the Government’s independent working group on antisocial behaviour has argued, by focusing solely on young people, we risk ignoring root causes and reinforcing harmful cycles of alienation and mistrust between generations, with continuing unhelpful stereotypes of young people having an impact on policy and decision making. The working group found that the loss of community resources, such as sports centres, swimming pools—as Dawn Black mentioned—and youth services, has a negative impact on community resilience, and that, when community resilience is low, the risk of antisocial behaviour increases. It is no coincidence that the communities that experience the most incidences of recorded antisocial behaviour are those that have been most exposed to austerity and face the highest rates of poverty and inequality.
People of colour are also often impacted unequally by attempts to tackle perceived antisocial behaviour. As I said at general question time earlier today, the desire for crackdowns on the antisocial use of e-bikes has the potential to further marginalise food delivery riders, as people of colour are overrepresented in that highly exploitative part of our labour market.
We also need to better understand how women experience antisocial behaviour. Classing the harassment that women and girls face on our streets, in our schools and on our public transport as antisocial behaviour, with a level of concern similar to that afforded to something such as graffiti, belittles our societal problem of misogyny and the deeply ingrained patterns of violence against women.
I am not denying the existence of antisocial behaviour or rejecting people’s legitimate concerns. Indeed, the communities that we, as Greens, stand up for most—those experiencing poverty and inequality—are the communities that are most impacted by it, but there are serious problems in the way in which we are currently tackling the issue. Our approach in Scotland is still focused on antisocial behaviour as an individual problem, rather than as an expression of too many parts of our society being left behind, and we should be looking to change that.
17:53
I congratulate Colin Beattie on securing this members’ business debate, and I commend his speech, which set out the issues very bluntly and very well.
Regrettably, we know all about the damaging impact of antisocial behaviour in Aberdeen and the north-east. Statistically, the most recorded antisocial offences by far are threatening or abusive behaviour, with drunkenness and other disorderly conduct being the second-largest category.
Such behaviour is present everywhere, as we have heard, but it is particularly evident in parts of Aberdeen city centre, particularly since the closure of Marks and Spencer on Union Street. Indeed, in the past year, police were called to Union Street almost 2,000 times to deal with a spike in criminality, predominantly involving thefts and fighting. Disgustingly, in another part of Aberdeen, two police officers were recently assaulted by a large group of youths when officers stopped an electric motorbike and issued a warning to a shoplifter, and those thugs went on to vandalise the police car.
I mentioned the Marks and Spencer shop. Just last month, police had to deal with the disgusting graffiti that appeared all over it. Vandalism of that sort is increasingly rife throughout the city centre.
As Aberdeen remembers only too well, a few years ago, police told our citizens that youths from as far away as Tayside were taking advantage of the free bus pass, which Colin Beattie mentioned, to visit Aberdeen and cause mayhem in the city centre. E-bikes, which were alluded to earlier, tear up and down Union Street, intimidating people and forcing them off pavements. Those bikes are being ridden illegally, often with no licence or insurance, and we have all heard of the alleged connections to drug dealing.
I appreciate the member’s points, and all of us can associate ourselves with some of the experiences that he has been good enough to raise. However, does he agree that, if we take away the issue of the age demographics, there are some systemic issues that also need to be addressed and that there are more cultural aspects to the issue? Scotland’s relationship with violence in general has shifted over the decades, but there are still other aspects to consider, including gender-based violence, and the impact of the culture on young men in particular. We have to have legislation to support women and girls, but the fact that gender-based violence still exists remains an issue culturally. Does the member agree that we need to do more for young men and boys to ensure that the issue is brought under control?
Yes, I agree with that. The member has brought up an important point, which I was going to mention later with regard to Kate Nevens’s speech.
Yes, there is antisocial behaviour, and I will continue to talk about that issue and some of the solutions to the problem that we set out in our manifesto, but I think that there are also an awful lot of structural and systemic issues going on here. Certainly, when I held the justice portfolio for my party in the previous session, I was keen to work on a cross-party basis with Katy Clark and Angela Constance, the then Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs, to make sure that we recognised all the systemic issues that contribute to criminality generally and to antisocial behaviour in particular. I welcome the member’s point, and I think that it was well made.
The antisocial behaviour that we are talking about in Aberdeen is not confined to Union Street. Twice in the past three months, the Nigg Bay golf club has been torn apart by e-bikes, at a cost of about £4,000. Shoplifting, which Colin Beattie mentioned, has become the clearest symbol of everyday disorder. The Scottish Retail Consortium has said that it has been effectively decriminalised.
Antisocial behaviour is a real problem, and I thought that Colin Beattie raised the issue well. It was also brave of him to raise the issue, given that we have had 20 years of a Scottish National Party Government that has failed to address it and has, rather, created conditions that are arguably conducive to antisocial behaviour. There is no analysis under which having 1,000 fewer police officers will reduce antisocial behaviour. There is no way that reducing visible local policing deters such behaviour. Policies such as releasing criminals after they have served a third of their sentences, bringing in a presumption against short-term sentences and against jailing under-25s, all while cutting community action, amount to a criminals’ charter. Then we come to the issue of the under-22 bus passes. The Government gave them to people but failed to include a mechanism to take them away if someone is guilty of antisocial behaviour.
I said that I would mention Kate Nevens’s speech, because the point that she made about the brutal cuts that have been inflicted on communities and community services by this Government was well made. They really have not helped.
I am always keen to help. Recently, I authored the justice section of the Conservative manifesto, which I am pleased to say is full of solutions.
Will the member give way?
I am not sure that I will be given the time.
The member is winding up and has already taken his additional time. The general rule is that interventions should not be made while winding up.
I apologise to Kate Nevens. We will talk offline.
The solutions in the Conservative manifesto included things such as tougher regulations for tackling the e-bike problem with mandatory registration and licensing; increasing maximum fines and a three-strikes policy for antisocial behaviour and shoplifting; ensuring meaningful and genuine community sentences; and increasing police patrols—there were much more besides.
I say to the minister that we have a major issue with antisocial behaviour in Scotland, which the Government has utterly failed to get a handle on. The solutions are there in the Conservative manifesto, and I would be delighted to work with her to implement them and address this scourge once and for all.
18:00
We have all heard deeply concerning stories from our constituents, including those about residents feeling unsafe in their own communities, businesses facing threats and vandalism, and workers being subjected to unacceptable abuse simply for doing their jobs. I am grateful to Colin Beattie for lodging his motion and to other members for their contributions. It is right that consideration is being given to cuts in our communities and structural issues of poverty.
The experiences that Colin Beattie shared from Midlothian North will resonate with members across the chamber, because they are not unique to one community. Unfortunately, they are being felt right across my region and throughout Scotland. That is why we in the Parliament need to provide a collective response.
During the election campaign, antisocial behaviour was one of the issues that came up on doorstep after doorstep. Time and again, people spoke about the disruption to their neighbourhoods, the damage that was being done to public spaces and the impact that persistent disorder was having on the quality of their lives. I have also heard from local businesses that are having to deal with graffiti, vandalism, abuse directed at staff and—sometimes—racial abuse. No one should have to face that simply for going to work.
Free bus travel is fantastic, but it is no use if people are too scared to get on the bus. Parents want their kids to have the freedom to use their bus passes to explore and to learn to do that responsibly, but people feel unsafe when they go on buses if there is antisocial behaviour.
In Edinburgh, we have had a particular challenge around bonfire night in areas such as Craigmillar and Niddrie. Thankfully, this year there was a marked improvement. Although that was partly due to the City of Edinburgh Council’s introduction of firework control zones, it was also because communities themselves stepped forward and took action. Local organisations, community leaders and volunteers worked together to provide positive alternatives and to create safe and inclusive family events that brought people and communities together. In doing so, they demonstrated that prevention is just as important as enforcement. I pay tribute to everyone who was involved in that work, including Police Scotland.
The rise in antisocial behaviour that we have witnessed in recent years has not happened in isolation. The number of full-time equivalent police officers is now almost 900 lower than it was a decade ago. At the same time, as Police Scotland has been required to make more efficiencies, many communities have seen a reduced visible police presence on their high streets and in their neighbourhoods. Visible community policing matters. It helps to deter the kind of behaviour that we are talking about today, but it also reassures residents and allows officers to build positive relationships with local people, especially young people. Police Scotland must have the resource that it needs to maintain that presence.
As we move into the summer months, communities deserve confidence that they will not experience the disruption that we have seen in recent years, including in places such as Portobello beach. Reviewing existing programmes and considering new approaches is an important first step, but reviews alone are not enough. They must lead to a clear plan of action that is backed by the resources that are necessary to deliver meaningful change.
Scottish Labour set out a number of proposals for tackling antisocial behaviour, but it was the Scottish National Party that won the election, so I call on the minister to deliver on her party’s election promises and make our communities safer. One of those promises was on a trial fund for social impact partners. It would be good if the Government could provide clarity on when that fund will be established, how success will be measured, how the trial will be evaluated and, crucially, what action will follow from its findings.
Our constituents want to have safe communities and thriving local businesses on their high streets, and they deserve to feel safe in their public spaces. As members of the Scottish Parliament, it is our responsibility to ensure that they get that.
18:03
I direct members to my entry in the register of members’ interests: I am a serving member of Highland Council. I thank Colin Beattie for securing the debate.
I realise that those members who are left in the chamber are, unlike me, unlikely to rush out on a Thursday morning to buy the latest edition of the Lochaber Times, but if they had done so this morning, they would have seen that this evening’s debate is timely from the perspective of my constituency, because the front page features news about the extended closure of the public toilets in Fort William as a result of antisocial behaviour that led to vandalism.
Other members have pointed to some of the causes of antisocial behaviour and the measures required to tackle it, but I want to use my contribution to highlight the essential services that are being lost as a result of antisocial behaviour, particularly when it leads to vandalism. The closure of the public toilets in Fort William is just an example of that; although the toilets are vital, they are not statutory, and when they are vandalised, they come under threat of closure. Indeed, we have seen the extended or permanent closure of such facilities, not just in Fort William but in Portree, Aviemore, Ballachulish and across the Highlands. That has a direct impact not only on our local communities but on the important tourism economy that we rely on.
Our councils are facing increased, and escalating, costs that are unsustainable. What might seem like relatively small levels of antisocial behaviour soon accumulate. Vandalism that involves toilet rolls strewn across public toilets becomes washbasins or urinals getting ripped from the walls, and that leads to wheelie bins being set on fire or even, in the case of some incidents in Fort William, a hotel worker being physically assaulted by the perpetrators of all that antisocial behaviour.
I understand the frustration that our police feel when they deal with these issues. A police inspector told me that he actually had to threaten to arrest the father of one of the young people who had been taken to the police station after being apprehended for antisocial behaviour and vandalism. No wonder we have a problem, if that is the attitude of parents in these circumstances. Colin Beattie is right to highlight that in his motion. The police, too, are frustrated with the limitations on our children’s panels in dealing with these incidents.
None of us wants to criminalise our young people, but it is right that we look at the underlying causes identified in Colin Beattie’s motion and at how we support our young people and their families to stop this problem, as he puts it, “at the source”. He is also right to highlight the hard work being done by our police, but I must say to the minister that the simple fact is that, particularly in large rural geographies like my own and those of Dawn Black and Liam Kerr, the police are overstretched and simply cannot deal with these issues. We cannot find ourselves in that sort of situation. As Katharine Sangster has said, the police need to be seen in our communities so that our young people can develop a healthy relationship with them.
I hope that, when the minister responds to the debate, she will tell us how she plans to redirect resources to tackle these issues, how we can strengthen the existing measures that we have at our disposal and whether she will consider introducing additional measures to look at the issues identified by members this evening.
18:08
I thank Colin Beattie for bringing this debate to the chamber. I will begin by declaring an interest as a member of the SSC, which is one of the oldest youth organisations in Scotland, with camps up the A9 just off from the House of Bruar. To those with secondary school-age children, I recommend that they send their children there—they will have the most incredible week. Indeed, without that field in the sun and the midges, I doubt very much that I would be in this chamber today. Of course, some might well believe that that would have been a good thing and that I should not have gone there. I do not know which path I would have taken had I not.
I am also—and here I declare another interest—a youth worker; that is my professional background, and it is the second degree that I took. It has been my privilege to have done community and youth work in many different places and countries in the world.
I begin my speech—or begin it a second time—with a quote:
“Young people when not guided well can be ruled by strong passions and tend to gratify them indiscriminately with anger and impulse rather than reason.”
That quote, which comes from over 2,000 years ago, is attributed to Aristotle.
Indeed, if we come to more modern times, Colin Beattie might remember the youth culture conflict of the 1960s, when the mods and rockers also ran around on mopeds causing carnage. My point is that young people have always done this—finding themselves, expressing themselves and being judged. Yes, they cross the line. If there is an issue, the police come knocking, as my colleague Andrew Baxter was saying. If there is a parent there, more often than not, the dad—and it is normally the dad or the mum if she is the strong parental figure in that household—will say, “We’ll sort this out. Thank you very much.” However, what if there is no parent at home or no stability?
What we saw in Glasgow and across Scotland last night was not antisocial behaviour, because it crossed into criminality. However, young people who are caught up in the fever of what is happening do not know where that line is. They are not there because they are, at the heart of it, racist. They are caught up in the adrenaline, and nobody is helping them to think through what they are about to do and the consequences of that. Antisocial behaviour, if it is not addressed, can spiral. Without positive role models, that is what happens. As some members have rightly said, when we see fairly unpleasant, if not criminal, behaviour within the adult population, that is often what has happened.
Politically, we can see that this has been an issue through history. We have had the Blackshirts and Brownshirts of Mussolini and Hitler. We have also, more recently, in Russia, had the Nashi movement, which has now become the Movement of the First, where strong men—it might be more appropriate to call them nationalist populist politicians peddling a different rhetoric—see the power and influence of young people, who hold strong opinions. However, from my knowledge of working with young people, they move quite quickly if given an alternative.
In my first speech, I talked about Tony McDonald. He did not have the 50p to enter the youth club. Instead, he was offered his first joint. He went on to cause 10 years of mayhem and disruption, at huge cost to society, to himself and to the police. In 2012, on one of my first visits to Polmont, the governor, Derek McGill, told me that 80 per cent of the young people in there came from the care system. They had not had that positive role model or intervention, and their situation had spiralled.
Last night, YouthLink Scotland ran a very good event, and a worker from its Castlemilk youth project reminded me that, in one of the most deprived communities in Scotland, when young people were asked what they wanted to change, they said, “Nothing.” Why? Because that is all they had seen in the lives that they had lived. How do we open their minds and allow them to live and be in spaces and places where they can see the potential for what can happen? If we do not, they will get into a narrative led by social media and spiral into other behaviours.
My time is limited, but I will mention the SSC. For six years, when I took care-experienced people to the SSC camp, their masks would lift. They would see that they were not just unlovable kids, but a community of people who had real value, and could contribute and make a difference.
The stark reality is that, in the past eight years, this SNP Government has cut the budget for youth work by 50 per cent. That is intolerable if we want to make change.
YouthLink has three asks: that we should not judge young people but give them a right to youth work, so that they can find their true selves; give them the youth work spaces in which they can do that; and to achieve that, give the sector the funding that it needs over the long term. That will be one of the biggest changes in how we address antisocial behaviour through a preventative agenda.
I remind members that the convention is that, during a first speech, there should be no interventions or interruptions. To make her first speech and to wind up the debate on behalf of the Scottish Government, I call Kirsten Oswald.
18:14
I am very pleased to close the debate. I thank Colin Beattie for securing it, and I welcome the constructive contributions that have been made across the chamber this evening. As has been pointed out, this is an issue of broad interest.
I am honoured to be the Minister for Victims and Community Safety, with responsibility for supporting victims, strengthening community safety and ensuring that prevention sits right at the heart of our approach. Therefore, this feels like an appropriate debate in which to make my first speech, as I am also the MSP for Eastwood.
Presiding Officer, given that it is my first speech, I hope that you will allow me to make some brief remarks about Eastwood. It is a place like no other in Scotland, and it is diverse, energetic and community focused. It is a real privilege to represent all of our Eastwood communities and to do so as the seat’s first Scottish National Party member. Of course, that is testament to an extraordinary local campaign, and I owe a great debt of gratitude to everyone who worked so hard.
I would also like to put on record my appreciation of, and good wishes to, my predecessor, Jackson Carlaw. I have valued his thoughtful advice and the handover in recent weeks, and I know that members here will, as I do, want to thank him for all his work over many years and to wish him well.
I also place on record my sincere thanks to my predecessor in this ministerial post, Siobhian Brown, for her dedication and very valuable work.
When it comes to antisocial behaviour and crime, the Scottish Government’s approach is very clear. As Dawn Black emphasised, prevention is key, as are early intervention and effective responses. I want to assure members that continuing to work closely with justice partners to drive down reoffending, support rehabilitation and ensure safer communities is a key objective for me. To do that, we need collaboration with and between local authorities, Police Scotland, third sector organisations and, very importantly, the people who live in communities.
I want to touch on some of the comments that have been made in the debate. Colin Beattie raised concerns about free bus passes, as did Liam Kerr. Of course, the vast majority of people who benefit from free bus travel do so responsibly, but where there has been, and is, antisocial behaviour, that is obviously of concern. The legislation that we are implementing aims to act as a deterrent to those acting unreasonably, and it includes the possibility of removing that privilege of free bus travel. It is recognised that people of all ages and can engage in unacceptable behaviour.
I appreciate that this is the minister’s first speech, but will she consider taking an intervention?
I will, given that the member has asked.
I am genuinely grateful. The minister mentioned free bus passes. Legislation to remove passes was passed in March, but it is subject to consultations and regulations being introduced. Can she give us a timeline on when that might happen?
I appreciate the intervention. I am happy to take interventions, as it happens. I will happily write to Mr Kerr with further detail on that. It is an issue that is of interest to people.
I also want to touch on Katherine Sangster’s points on firework control zones. It was a useful point to raise, particularly with regard to community work, which is very much an example of prevention being brought to the fore.
Colin Beattie, Liam Kerr, Katherine Sangster and others mentioned retail crime. The impact on business is of serious concern; we recognise the disruption and harm that such crime—and related antisocial behaviour—causes to businesses and communities and, as a result, we have made an additional £3 million available in 2026-27 for Police Scotland specifically to help tackle it.
I also note that Colin Beattie raised the issue of schools and standards of behaviour in his speech, and I do want to talk about youth-related programmes, which I hope will be helpful. In that respect, I want to record my agreement with Duncan Dunlop on the great value of youth organisations. I would also note the points made by Dawn Black and Carol Mochan about social issues, the roots of difficulties and problems—alcohol misuse, for instance—and the importance of prevention and support.
I should also mention the independent working group on antisocial behaviour. The Scottish Government has taken forward work that falls under five themes, all of which have been progressed. I will look further at that work, and I am keen to hear from members about ideas for future activity.
I hope that members feel that I have touched on a number of the issues that they have raised. I would point out to Colin Beattie that I understand that, in Midlothian, there is Scottish Government-funded activity on the summer of sport theme, which ties together some of the concerns that he raised. I should also say that the collaborative approach being taken between Police Scotland, councils and partners at large, working together to target antisocial behaviour problems in communities, has been particularly important, and I reassure members that this Government will continue to equip the police and work with local partners to tackle antisocial behaviour, in line with our manifesto and our focus on all of our communities in Scotland.
I was interested in some of the things that Katherine Sangster was saying about social impact partnerships. I am heartened by the possibilities of social impact investment as a new approach to bringing together partners in order to deliver vital preventative action. I thought, too, that Kate Nevens’s comments on the impact of new approaches on different groups of people were relevant in that regard. We are committed to providing a £200,000 kick-starter fund to develop proposals for social impact partnerships, focusing on early intervention and justice and beginning with reducing reoffending and creating safe spaces for young people in order to divert them from antisocial behaviour.
Michelle Campbell’s intervention on Liam Kerr was insightful, and the interaction between them on that point was important. I am happy to speak to either of them about the issue and, of course, to any other member about the issues that they have raised.
The Government is also taking forward at pace work across manifesto commitments. For instance, on the seizure of e-bikes and e-scooters, which a number of members have highlighted, officials are working with Police Scotland to address the antisocial use of those vehicles, while recognising the constraints in that respect, such as the fact that vehicle registration remains a reserved matter.
I do recognise that members, quite rightly, do not wish to demonise young people; indeed, Colin Beattie talked about that, as did a number of other members. Antisocial behaviour comes not only from young people—it is quite true that most of them do not engage in antisocial behaviour—but our focus must be on diverting those who are at risk towards more positive paths. As Duncan Dunlop said, there is a role for those in this chamber to conduct themselves in a way that provides a positive influence.
The cashback for communities programme is important and has been successful. By investing a record £26 million from April 2026 to March 2029, we are helping to steer young people away from harm and, as Andrew Baxter suggested, towards more positive destinations. That is also happening in Midlothian, and I hope that it is helpful to mention to Colin Beattie that five projects are running there.
Phase 7 of cashback for communities builds on a strong track record, and I want to thank all of the people delivering that work in every local authority. Since the programme began in 2008, £158 million has been invested in supporting diversionary activities, supporting 1.4 million young people. Phase 7 sees 51 projects across the country delivering youth work, employability and skills. I would also note that a broad range of youth work is going on in Midlothian, too; again, I hope that that is helpful to Colin Beattie.
I accept that an effective system must exist to deal with people in conflict with the law. Young people and youth justice have featured prominently in our discussion today. I am clear on the impact of antisocial behaviour on victims and communities, including local businesses across Scotland—I heard Kate Nevens’s points about those who are particularly affected. The Government is, therefore, committed to supporting Police Scotland and other partners in the vital work that they do, including through the provision of record funding, and we are equally committed to preventative action.
The Government will remain focused on delivering our manifesto commitments, delivering for victims and delivering secure, safe and stronger communities. I again thank Colin Beattie for bringing this important debate to the chamber, and I am grateful to all members for their contributions.
Meeting closed at 18:23.
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